It Takes One to Know One

Part 38

They'd hurried inside, finding Gary Elias sitting at the kitchen table with two police officers. According to him they'd just arrived and he being Cai's social worker was filling them in on his circumstances and on the recent events in his life. They were taking notes as they waited to speak to the boy.

Gary couldn't tell the two young men anything more as he'd arrived just minutes before the police and hadn't had chance to speak to Cai himself, apparently Paddy didn't know anything either, he'd sent the weather battered boy straight for a shower, insisting he change into dry clothes and have something hot to eat before quizzing him on what had happened. The two of them were in the living room now and on hearing that Aaron and Jackson made their way into that room.

Cai was sitting head bowed on the sofa, Paddy alongside him, they'd been talking but on seeing them the conversation abruptly came to a halt. The boy eyeing Aaron warily, he'd seen something in his eyes, something the two older men were not yet aware of.

"What the hell are you playing at?" Aaron demanded as he stormed over to stand over the boy. His concern having inexplicably manifested itself into anger.

"Aaron!" Jackson exclaimed, taken aback by the younger man's sudden show of ire.

Shrugging off his boyfriend's restraining hand Aaron then vented in his direction, "He's got it coming. Worrying Paddy, worrying you! All he had to do was ring us, better still not go to that nob's house in the first place. Now look at the shit he's in!"

Cai leapt to his feet, squaring up to Aaron as he snarled back at him, "Yeah like you never did anything wrong, like you never made a mistake, like you never gave Paddy any sleepless nights!"

"I don't want you messing up like I did!" Aaron spat back, "Getting into trouble with the police, ending up in court. Putting the people who care about you through hell!" His anger having suddenly burnt itself out Aaron shook his head and added quietly, "I don't want that for you. You're better than that."

Silence fell around the room then, the uncomfortable kind. Paddy and Jackson both reluctant to interfere, Aaron thinking he'd said too much already and Cai wanting to put everything right but believing he couldn't, but it was he who finally broke the silence.

"I thought I could handle it, I thought if I went about it the right way...I'm sorry!"

"You're ok that's the main thing." Aaron conceded only to then wonder if that really was the case, "You are aren't you? Hurst didn't hurt you or anything?"

"No, I'm fine."

"So what happened?" Aaron asked, thinking it might be a good idea that they know what had taken place before the police did.

"You're not going to like it." Cai said quietly before sinking back down onto the sofa.

Glancing at Jackson Aaron said, "No, but we'll help sort it ok?"

"Yeah."

Sitting opposite Cai and Paddy, Aaron and Jackson listened intently as the boy began to speak.

"He was alright with me; he seemed really nice. He was ok with Gary too, he didn't seem to have anything against Paddy but when it came to you two...I could tell he didn't like you. He wouldn't admit to it though, he wouldn't openly say he didn't. I knew he didn't like me being here, he said I should be with a proper family, that there should be a woman in the house. That it wasn't right I should be sharing the house with three men, two of them gay.

"I knew then what his problem was, and I asked him outright, but he denied it. He was alright apart from that, I thought if he got to know you he'd realise how wrong he was to think that way, but he always had some excuse not to come here.

"Gary said I had to give him a chance, I knew my mum would want me to so... well you said that essay would open people's eyes, I stupidly thought it would open his, so I told him about it, not what it was about, just about the competition, he was all for me entering it. I took it with me and I showed it him today. He didn't read much of it and what he did read just made him angry. He said I shouldn't be writing such shit, asked me why out of all the things I could have written about had I written about queers! Then he asked if I was one. I asked him if he'd still want me living with him if I was...he didn't answer me.

"I should have given up then but I wanted an answer, he just got angrier with me, he said that you'd poisoned my mind. I told him that his prejudice was a poison. That really pissed him off and he ripped up the essay.

"I didn't like being around him when he was so angry and I told him I wanted to go home. He said I wasn't coming back here, that he'd ring Gary and make sure I didn't. When he picked up the phone I made for the door. He came after me, got hold of me like Ray used to do and I thought he was going to hit me... so I hit him."

Aaron sat in stunned disbelief, the boy had got himself into trouble over them yet again. Jackson was struggling with it equally, and for the first time was wondering if him being with them was really the best thing for him.

TBC